A Guide for Sustainable Urban Development of the 21st Century

Shanghai Manual – A Guide for Sustainable Urban Development in the 21st Century− Organizing a library in the Media Center on the Expo site− Producing videos for the China Pavilion to entertain people while queuing− Providing clipping services for customized usage− Organizing a lecture series about Expos (by 2010 the library had organized 95Expo-related lectures reaching about 45,000 people)− Providing solid academic research support to exhibitions and otherpromotional activities− Carrying out survey services including monthly media coverage and mediamonitoring of sensitive issuesEngaging partners beyond the host-city itself - Through Expo 2010, China successfullyengaged the whole country not only through the nation-wide promotion of the theme but bymobilizing and engaging all of its provinces, municipalities and cities in different activities inpreparation of the Expo.In the case of neighboring cities, Expo 2010 organized international thematic forums,positioned as high-profile events, outside of Shanghai. Each forum took place in one of siximportant cities of the Yangtze River Delta, each one known for its active engagement in aspecific theme of the Forum. While providing design and organizational support in oneimportant aspect of the Expo, each city had an opportunity to gain benefits, such as enhancingtheir international identity, reinforcing their image nationally and launching innovative newinitiatives.Shanghai 2010 also created opportunities for other international cities by introducing theconcept of an exhibition area fully dedicated to urban best practices, where cities coulddisplay and share their achievements. The Urban Best Practices Area (UBPA) was a dedicated15 hectares zone at the heart of the Expo site where selected cities from around the worlddisplayed their real-size, real-life solutions to enhance their quality of life, often through greenbuildings.Urban Regeneration and Environmental Transformations - The Expo designed andapplied environmental innovation at a larger scale than any Expo before. It fulfilled itspromise to be a green and low-carbon Expo. It is fair to say that part of the environmentallegacy of the 2008 Beijing Olympics (see section 3.4. below) was to create an example forShanghai 2010 to follow and to surpass.As the pictures below show, the image of Shanghai changed radically as the result of the sametypes of improvements that were planned and implemented in Beijing, including improvementof air quality, policies for emission reductions, and relocation of highly polluting factoriespreviously located in the center of the city.23